Test of faith
A bill to protect religious freedom in the workplace gives Democrats a chance to change their image. But first they’ll have to agree it’s a good idea.
Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail in 2004. Today they are cosponsors of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. (Reuters Photo)
By Amy Sullivan | November 13, 2005
ONE OF THE enduring mysteries of the 2004 presidential race is why John Kerry failed to highlight, or even mention, one of his major Senate initiatives: legislation to protect the rights of religious individuals in the workplace. Kerry first introduced the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, or WRFA, in 1996-long before the Democratic Party started to worry about ''values'' voters-after two of his Catholic constituents were fired from their jobs because they refused to work on Christmas Eve. He has reintroduced the bill in every congressional session since, joined by fellow Catholic, and odd political bedfellow, Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, an arch social conservative.
One would think that for Kerry, who was hounded by criticism from conservative Catholic bishops and looking to prove his religious bona fides during the campaign, an effort appealing to people across the religious and political spectrum should have been something he'd trumpet from the rooftops. Religious minorities love the bill because it would protect the right of Sikhs to wear their turbans on the job, for example, or of Orthodox Jews to swap work shifts in order to observe Yom Kippur. And Christian conservatives have embraced it because it reflects the fact that religious individuals have special concerns. A coalition of nearly 50 religious organizations-everyone from the Southern Baptist Convention and Family Research Council on the right to the National Council of Churches and American Jewish Committee on the left-supports WRFA.
What's more, the mere mention of a Kerry-Santorum bill causes heads to snap around in a double take. Best of all from the Kerry camp's perspective, because WRFA had been blocked by the business lobby-business groups oppose the idea that employers should have to make accommodations for religious workers-Kerry could present the bill as a measure to protect religious Americans that had been obstructed by Republican supporters.
Yet Kerry never mentioned his pet religious project on the campaign trail; the single campaign reference to the bill was one line at the very bottom of the ''People of Faith for Kerry'' page on the campaign's website. And on election day, the ''religion gap'' once again favored the Republican ticket.
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